This document is not an ASTM standard and is intended only to provide the user of an ASTM standard an indication of what

changes have been made to the previous version. Because

it may not be technically possible to adequately depict all changes accurately, ASTM recommends that users consult prior editions as appropriate. In all cases only the current version
of the standard as published by ASTM is to be considered the official document.

Designation: D5379/D5379M − 12 D5379/D5379M − 19

Standard Test Method for

Shear Properties of Composite Materials by the V-Notched
Beam Method1
This standard is issued under the fixed designation D5379/D5379M; the number immediately following the designation indicates the
year of original adoption or, in the case of revision, the year of last revision. A number in parentheses indicates the year of last
reapproval. A superscript epsilon (´) indicates an editorial change since the last revision or reapproval.

1. Scope
1.1 This test method covers the shear properties of composite materials reinforced by high-modulus fibers. The composite
materials are limited to continuous-fiber or discontinuous-fiber-reinforced composites in the following material forms:
1.1.1 Laminates composed only of unidirectional fibrous laminae, with the fiber direction oriented either parallel or
perpendicular to the loading axis.
1.1.2 Laminates composed only of woven fabric filamentary laminae with the warp direction oriented either parallel or
perpendicular to the loading axis.
1.1.3 Laminates composed only of unidirectional fibrous laminae, containing equal numbers of plies oriented at 0 and 90° in
a balanced and symmetric stacking sequence, with the 0° direction oriented either parallel or perpendicular to the loading axis.
1.1.4 Short-fiber-reinforced composites with a majority of the fibers being randomly distributed.
NOTE 1—This shear test concept was originally developed without reference to fiber direction for use on isotropic materials such as metals or ceramics.

iTeh Standards
1.2 The values stated in either SI units or inch-pound units are to be regarded separately as standard. The values stated in each
system are not necessarily exact equivalents; therefore, to ensure conformance with the standard, each system shall be used
independently of the other, and values from the two systems shall not be combined.
(https://standards.iteh.ai)
1.2.1 Within the text, the inch-pound units are shown in brackets.
1.3 This standard does not purport to address all of the safety concerns, if any, associated with its use. It is the responsibility

Document Preview
of the user of this standard to establish appropriate safety safety, health, and healthenvironmental practices and determine the
applicability of regulatory limitations prior to use.
1.4 This international standard was developed in accordance with internationally recognized principles on standardization
established in the Decision on Principles for the Development of International Standards, Guides and Recommendations issued
by the World Trade Organization Technical BarriersASTM D5379/D5379M-19
to Trade (TBT) Committee.
https://standards.iteh.ai/catalog/standards/sist/cb60e00d-1c14-49e5-a307-e1e184540143/astm-d5379-d5379m-19
2. Referenced Documents
2.1 ASTM Standards:2
D792 Test Methods for Density and Specific Gravity (Relative Density) of Plastics by Displacement
D883 Terminology Relating to Plastics
D2584 Test Method for Ignition Loss of Cured Reinforced Resins
D2734 Test Methods for Void Content of Reinforced Plastics
D3171 Test Methods for Constituent Content of Composite Materials
D3878 Terminology for Composite Materials
D5229/D5229M Test Method for Moisture Absorption Properties and Equilibrium Conditioning of Polymer Matrix Composite
Materials
E4 Practices for Force Verification of Testing Machines
E6 Terminology Relating to Methods of Mechanical Testing
E111 Test Method for Young’s Modulus, Tangent Modulus, and Chord Modulus

1
This test method is under the jurisdiction of ASTM Committee D30 on Composite Materials and is the direct responsibility of Subcommittee D30.04 on Lamina and
Laminate Test Methods.
Current edition approved July 15, 2012Oct. 15, 2019. Published February 2013October 2019. Originally approved in 1993. Last previous edition approved in 20052012
as D5379/D5379M – 05.D5379/D5379M – 12. DOI: 10.1520/D5379_D5379M-12.10.1520/D5379_D5379M-19.
2
For referenced ASTM standards, visit the ASTM website, www.astm.org, or contact ASTM Customer Service at [email protected]. For Annual Book of ASTM Standards
volume information, refer to the standard’s Document Summary page on the ASTM website.

Copyright © ASTM International, 100 Barr Harbor Drive, PO Box C700, West Conshohocken, PA 19428-2959. United States

1
 D5379/D5379M − 19
E122 Practice for Calculating Sample Size to Estimate, With Specified Precision, the Average for a Characteristic of a Lot or
Process
E177 Practice for Use of the Terms Precision and Bias in ASTM Test Methods
E251 Test Methods for Performance Characteristics of Metallic Bonded Resistance Strain Gages
E456 Terminology Relating to Quality and Statistics
E1237 Guide for Installing Bonded Resistance Strain Gages
2.2 Other Documents:3
ANSI Y14.5M-1982 Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing
ANSI/ASME B 46.1-1985 Surface Texture (Surface Roughness, Waviness, and Lay)
2.3 ASTM Adjuncts:
V-Notched Beam Shear Fixture Machining Drawings4
3. Terminology
3.1 Definitions—Terminology D3878 defines terms relating to high-modulus fibers and their composites. Terminology D883
defines terms relating to plastics. Terminology E6 defines terms relating to mechanical testing. Terminology E456 and Practice
E177 define terms relating to statistics. In the event of a conflict between terms, Terminology D3878 shall have precedence over
the other standards.
3.2 Definitions of Terms Specific to This Standard:
NOTE 2—If the term represents a physical quantity, its analytical dimensions are stated immediately following the term (or letter symbol) in
fundamental dimension form, using the following ASTM standard symbology for fundamental dimensions, shown within square brackets: [M] for mass,
[L] for length, [T] for time, [Θ] for thermodynamic temperature, and [ nd] for nondimensional quantities. Use of these symbols is restricted to analytical
dimensions when used with square brackets, as the symbols may have other definitions when used without the brackets.
3.2.1 in-plane shear, n—any of the shear properties describing the response resulting from a shear force or deformation applied
to the 1-2 material plane. (See also material coordinate system.)

iTeh Standards
3.2.2 interlaminar shear, n—any of the shear properties describing the response resulting from a shear force or deformation
applied to the 1-3 or 2-3 material planes. (See also material coordinate system.)
3.2.3 material coordinate system, n—a Cartesian coordinate system describing the principal material coordinate system, using
(https://standards.iteh.ai)
1, 2, and 3 for the axes, as shown in Fig. 1.

Document Preview
ASTM D5379/D5379M-19
https://standards.iteh.ai/catalog/standards/sist/cb60e00d-1c14-49e5-a307-e1e184540143/astm-d5379-d5379m-19

FIG. 1 Material Coordinate System

3.2.4 nominal value, n—a value, existing in name only, assigned to a measurable property for the purpose of convenient
designation. Tolerances may be applied to a nominal value to define an acceptable range for the property.
3.2.5 shear strength, n—the shear stress carried by a material at failure under a pure shear condition.
3.2.5.1 Discussion—There are no standard test methods that are capable of producing a perfectly pure shear stress condition to
failure for every material, although some test methods can come acceptably close for a specific material for a given engineering
purpose.
3.3 Symbols:
3.3.1 A—minimum cross-sectional area of a coupon.
3.3.2 CV—coefficient of variation statistic of a sample population for a given property (in percent).
3.3.3 Fsu—ultimate shear strength in the test direction.

3
Available from American National Standards Institute (ANSI), 25 W. 43rd St., 4th Floor, New York, NY 10036.
4
Available from ASTM International Headquarters. Order Adjunct No. ADJD5379.

2
 D5379/D5379M − 19
3.3.4 Fu—ultimate strength in the test direction.
3.3.5 F° (offset)—the value of the shear stress at the intersection of the shear chord modulus of elasticity and the stress strain
curve when the modulus is offset along the engineering shear strain axis from the origin by the reported strain offset value.
3.3.6 G—shear modulus of elasticity in the test direction.
3.3.7 h—coupon thickness.
3.3.8 n—number of coupons per sample population.
3.3.9 P—force carried by test coupon.
3.3.10 Pf—force carried by test coupon at failure.
3.3.11 Pmax—maximum force carried by test coupon before failure.
3.3.12 sn−1—standard deviation statistic of a sample population for a given property.
3.3.13 w—coupon width.
3.3.14 xi—test result for an individual coupon from the sample population for a given property.
3.3.15 x¯—mean or average (estimate of mean) of a sample population for a given property.
3.3.16 γ—engineering shear strain.
3.3.17 ε—general symbol for strain, whether normal strain or shear strain.
3.3.18 ε—indicated normal strain from strain transducer or extensometer.
3.3.19 σ—normal stress.
3.3.20 τ—shear stress.
3.3.21 θ—ply orientation angle.

4. Summary of Test Method

iTeh Standards
4.1 A material coupon in the form of a rectangular flat strip with symmetrical centrally located v-notches, shown schematically
in Fig. 2, is loaded in a mechanical testing machine by a special fixture (shown schematically in Fig. 3 and in more detail in the
machining drawings of ASTM Adjunct ADJD5379.5
(https://standards.iteh.ai)
4.2 The specimen is inserted into the fixture with the notch located along the line of action of loading by means of an alignment

Document Preview
tool that references the fixture. The two halves of the fixture are compressed by a testing machine while monitoring force. The

ASTM D5379/D5379M-19
https://standards.iteh.ai/catalog/standards/sist/cb60e00d-1c14-49e5-a307-e1e184540143/astm-d5379-d5379m-19

Nominal Specimen Dimensions

d1 = 19 mm [0.75 in.]
d2 = 3.8 mm [0.15 in.]
h = as required
L = 76 mm [3.0 in.]
r = 1.3 mm [0.05 in.]
w = 11.4 mm [0.45 in.]

FIG. 2 V-Notched Beam Test Coupon Schematic

5
The specimen and fixture are based upon work at the University of Wyoming Composite Materials Research Group (1, 2), and were subsequently modified by the group
(3, 4) into the configuration used by this test method. The Wyoming investigations referred to the earlier work of Arcan (5-7) and Iosipescu (8-10), and the later work of a
number of other researchers, including Refs (11-16) (early historical perspectives are given in Refs (1, 17)). The boldface numbers in parentheses refer to the list of references
at the end of this standard.

3
 D5379/D5379M − 19

FIG. 3 V-Notched Beam Test Fixture Schematic

iTeh Standards
relative displacement between the two fixture halves loads the notched specimen. By placing two strain gaugegage elements,
oriented at 645° to the loading axis, in the middle of the specimen (away from the notches) and along the loading axis, the shear

(https://standards.iteh.ai)
response of the material can be measured.
4.3 The loading can be idealized as asymmetric flexure, as shown by the shear and bending moment diagrams of Fig. 4. The 6

Document
is a function of materialPreview
notches influence the shear strain along the loading direction, making the distribution more uniform than would be seen without
the notches. While the degree of uniformity orthotropy, the best overall results, when testing in the 1-2
plane, have been obtained on [0/90]ns-type laminates.

5. Significance and Use ASTM D5379/D5379M-19

https://standards.iteh.ai/catalog/standards/sist/cb60e00d-1c14-49e5-a307-e1e184540143/astm-d5379-d5379m-19
5.1 This test method is designed to produce shear property data for material specifications, research and development, quality
assurance, and structural design and analysis. Either in-plane or interlaminar shear properties may be evaluated, depending upon
the orientation of the material coordinate system relative to the loading axis. Factors that influence the shear response and should
therefore be reported include the following: material, methods of material preparation and lay-up, specimen stacking sequence,
specimen preparation, specimen conditioning, environment of testing, specimen alignment and gripping, speed of testing, time at
temperature, void content, and volume percent reinforcement.
5.2 In anisotropic materials, properties may be obtained in any of the six possible shear planes by orienting the testing plane
of the specimen with the desired material plane (1-2 or 2-1, 1-3 or 3-1, 2-3 or 3-2). Only a single shear plane may be evaluated
for any given specimen. Properties, in the test direction, which may be obtained from this test method, include the following:
5.2.1 Shear stress/strain response,
5.2.2 Ultimate strength,
5.2.3 Ultimate strain, and
5.2.4 Shear chord modulus of elasticity.

6. Interferences
6.1 Material and Specimen Preparation—Poor material fabrication practices, lack of control of fiber alignment, and damage
induced by improper coupon machining are known causes of high material data scatter in composites.
6.2 Materials and Coarse Structure—One of the fundamental assumptions of this test method is that the material must be
relatively homogeneous with respect to the size of the test section. Materials that have relatively coarse features with respect to
the test section dimensions, such as fabrics using large filament count tows (such as tows of 12 000 filaments or more) or certain

6
While the idealization indicates constant shear loading and zero bending momentmoments in the specimen at the notches, the actual load application is distributed and
imperfect, which contributes to asymmetry in the shear strain distribution and to a component of normal stress that is particularly deleterious to [90]n specimens (16).

4
 D5379/D5379M − 19

iTeh Standards
(https://standards.iteh.ai)
Document Preview
ASTM D5379/D5379M-19
https://standards.iteh.ai/catalog/standards/sist/cb60e00d-1c14-49e5-a307-e1e184540143/astm-d5379-d5379m-19
NOTE 1—The value of the dimension b is not critical to the concept.
FIG. 4 Idealized Force, Shear, and Moment Diagrams

braided structures, should not be tested with this specimen size. Scale-up of the specimen and the fixturing to accommodate such
materials is possible, but is beyond the scope of this test method.
6.3 Elastic Modulus Measurement—The calculations in this test method assume a uniform shear stress state between the
notches. The actual degree of uniformity varies with the level of material orthotropy and the direction of loading. Both analysis
and full-field experimental strain measurement have shown that when testing in the 1-2 plane, [0]n specimens result in an elastic
modulus estimate that is too high (about 10 % too high for carbon/epoxy), while [90]n specimens of the same material result in
a value that is about 20 % too low. The most accurate measurements of in-plane shear modulus for unidirectional materials have
been shown to result from the [0/90]ns specimen. The use of specialized shear strain gauges,gages, which span the length of the
test section between the notch roots, allows the average shear strain to be measured even with a nonuniform shear stress state
present, and thus areis recommended.
6.4 Force Eccentricity—Twisting of the specimen during loading can occur, affecting strength results, and especially, elastic
modulus measurement. Twisting may occur due to an out-of-tolerance fixture, or from specimens that are too thin (unstable),
improperly installed in the fixture, out-of-tolerance because of poor specimen preparation, or of a material configuration with an
extremely low tolerance to twist. It is recommended that at least one specimen of each sample be tested with back-to-back rosettes
to evaluate the degree of twist. Evaluate the percent twist for the specimen by substituting the shear modulus from each side, Ga
and Gb, into |(Ga − Gb)/(Ga + Gb)| × 100, evaluated at 0.004 absolute strain. If the amount of twist is greater than 3 %, then the
specimens should be examined for cause of the twisting, and corrected, if possible. If no cause is apparent or correction possible,
and the twisting persists, then the shear modulus measurement should be made using the average response of back-to-back rosettes.
NOTE 3—Twisting as a result of minor tolerance variations can be mitigated by use of a thin compliant interface, such as a plastic-backed adhesive

5
 D5379/D5379M − 19
tape, between the fixture and the load-bearing surface of the specimen.
6.5 Specimen Geometry Modifications—Detailed stress analysis of the v-notch specimen has shown that adjustments to the
notch dimensions (notch angle, depth, and radius) can minimize non-uniformity in the shear-stress distribution as a result of
material orthotropy. In order to minimize the complexity of this test method, a single standard geometry has been adopted.
However, variations to the notch angle, depth, and radius for the purpose of optimizing the specimen performance for a particular
material are acceptable when the variations are clearly noted in the report.
6.6 Determination of Failure:
6.6.1 [0]n Materials—In [0]n specimens tested in the 1-2 plane, a visible crack typically develops at the notch root, causing a
small drop in force before ultimate failure, as shown in Fig. 5. The small force drop accompanying the notch root crack is not
considered the failure force; rather the force that accompanies failure in the test section shall be used as the failure force.
6.6.2 [90]n Materials—In [90]n specimens tested in the 2-1 plane, the ultimate failure force is clearly defined by the maximum
force attained on the force-deflection curve.
6.6.3 [0/90]ns, SMC, Toughened Materials—For [0/90]ns, SMC, or toughened materials, the shear failure force may be lower
than the maximum force attainable during the test. In such materials, the fibers may reorient following shear failure, subsequently
allowing the fibers to carry a major portion of the force. This reorientation is more likely to occur in composites with tough matrix
materials that are very nonlinear in shear or in laminates containing off-axis fibers. In such cases, the shear failure force can often
be determined by correlating visual observation of failure in the test section with a force drop or by a significant change in the slope
of the force-displacement plot, as shown in Fig. 5. Additionally, some toughened materials may deform to such an extent that shear
failure does not occur at all; rather the specimen ultimately fails in a mixed-mode failure. Consequently, to avoid the reporting of
results that are not representative of shear strength, this test method terminates data reporting at an engineering shear strain of 5 %.

7. Apparatus
7.1 Micrometers and Calipers—The micrometer(s) shall use a suitable size diameter ball-interface on irregular surfaces such as
the bag-size of a laminate, and A micrometer with a 4 to 8 mm [0.16 to 0.32 in.] nominal diameter ball-interface or a flat anvil
iTeh Standards
interface shall be used to measure the specimen thickness. A ball interface is recommended for thickness measurements when at
least one surface is irregular (for example, a coarse peel ply surface which is neither smooth nor flat). A micrometer or caliper with

(https://standards.iteh.ai)
a flat anvil interface on machined edges or very smooth tooled surfaces. A caliper of suitable size can also be used on machined
edges or very smooth tooled surfaces. The accuracy of these instrumentsshall be used for measuring length, shoulder width, and
other machined surface dimensions. A blade micrometer or non-contact device such as an optical comparator shall be used for
Document Preview
measuring the width between notches. The use of alternative measurement devices is permitted if specified (or agreed to) by the
test requestor and reported by the testing laboratory. The accuracy of the instrument(s) shall be suitable for reading to within 1 %
of the sample width and thickness. specimen dimensions. For typical specimen geometries, an instrument with an accuracy of 62.5
µm [60.0001 in.] is desirable60.0025 mm [60.0001 ASTM D5379/D5379M-19
in.] is adequate for thickness measurement,measurements, while an
https://standards.iteh.ai/catalog/standards/sist/cb60e00d-1c14-49e5-a307-e1e184540143/astm-d5379-d5379m-19

FIG. 5 Typical V-Notched Beam Force-Displacement Plots